In the Ness lab we investigate how the generation of variation by mutation and recombination interacts with genetic drift and natural selection to drive evolution. Our work combines natural and experimental populations with new fangled genomic technologies.

MUTATION
Mutation creates all new genetic variants but despite this we understand relatively little about what determine the mutation rate and how the input of new mutations depends on the individual, their environment and how the creation of new mutations changes across the genome. We use a combination of experimental evolution, whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics to try and address these questions.

RECOMBINATION
Recombination shuffles variation created by mutation into new combinations. This shuffling affects whether natural selection is able to increase the frequency of adaptive mutations and purge harmful mutations. But there are species that lack recombination because they are asexual or inbreeding. And what’s more there are genomic regions without recombination – like sex chromosomes. So how does variation in recombination change genome function and the course of evolution?

DRIFT VS. SELECTION
The fate of variation created by mutation and recombination is decided by the balance between drift and selection. In the Ness lab we combine direct estimates of mutation and recombination from lab studies with population genomics to try and tease apart how drift and selection are determining the direction of genome evolution and influencing the functioning of the genome.

Publications

The Ness lab investigates how mutation and recombination interact with selection and genetic drift to drive evolution. We combine natural and experimental populations with new fangled genomic technologies.